Chapter 10- ACROSS THE GLASS
Brian looked older than he had during sentencing.
His prison uniform hung loosely around his shoulders, and the confidence he once wore like expensive clothing had disappeared. We sat on opposite sides of thick glass, speaking through phones that smelled faintly of disinfectant.
“You sent the letter,” I said. “Now tell me everything.”
His eyes moved toward the guard before returning to me.
“My mother knew the business was failing before I did.”
“That makes no sense.”
“She tracked the accounts. She knew which relatives had savings, which ones were lonely and which ones were desperate to feel included.”
“You forged my signature.”
“Yes.”
He said it without excuses.
The simplicity of the answer was almost more disturbing than denial.
“What is behind the pantry wall?”
“A lockbox. Copies of contracts. A recorder.”
“Why hide them in my father’s house?”
“Because the house was in your name. If investigators found anything, I planned to say you had hidden it.”
For a second, I could not breathe.
Even while we were married, he had been building an escape route that ended with me in prison.
“Why are you helping me now?”
Brian looked down.
“Because my mother visited last month. She told me she could still get Lily away from you.”
My grip tightened around the phone.
“She can’t.”
“She doesn’t need permanent custody. She only needs enough access to claim you coached Lily and destroyed evidence.”
“What evidence?”
“The recorder has her voice on it.”
“Doing what?”
Brian finally looked at me.
“Planning the dinner.”
The room seemed to narrow around us.
“That dinner was not just a family gathering,” he continued. “She invited everyone because she wanted you surrounded. The papers were supposed to be signed that night.”
“And Lily?”
His face changed.
“Lily getting sick was not part of the plan.”
“But stopping me from taking her to the hospital was.”
Brian closed his eyes.
“I told myself her fever wasn’t serious.”
“You told yourself whatever allowed you to obey your mother.”
He did not argue.
May you like
Before I left, he whispered one final warning.
“My mother will do something reckless before she lets that recording reach court.”
